A TURKISH REVIEW OF ENGLISH HISTORY.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2471, 18 February 1881, Page 4

A TURKISH REVIEW OF ENGLISH HISTORY.

The Turkish newspapers not unnaturally take a malicious pleasure in rehearsing the evil deeds of other nations. “Was there not a Governor Eyre once in Jamaica,” asks one of these journals, “ celebrated for his hangings? and in Russian Poland was there not Mouravieff, surnamed the hangman The “ Osmanli,” not content with contemporary criminals, has extended its researches to the wars of the Roses and the Reformation. “ Historians say,” it tells its readers, “ that the atrocities committed in the wars of York and Lancaster were worthy of the most savage tribes in Africa; it can hardly be credited that they took place in free England.” Crook-backed Richard is not forgotten ; but Mr Froude will be grieved to hear that his Tudor hero furnishes the “ Osmanli” with the most forcible illustration of the depravity of the English. It describes how the love of a king for a damsel sufficed to change the State religion of Great Britain ; it dwells upon the evil state of his many wives, and sums up its account of his reign as follows :—“ The number of the victims of Henry A r III. reached the enormous number of 72,000 souls. As for the wealth confiscated, that was incalculable. Henry YIII falsified the currency to increase to the utmost the riches bj' which he was able to indulge his favorite vices. At last he repudiated his debts and become bankrupt This interesting and amusing compilation of “ facts from English history ” is brought to a close by quoting the saying of Walpole, that every member of Parliament had his price. Thus are sins of former generations invoked to condone the misdeeds of to-day.